Little Nemo and Krazy Kat!

Winsor McCay's comic, Little Nemo, can be interpreted in many ways. One interpretation I heard was that Little Nemo's dreams are basic human fears: like not finding your way home and being rejected.

The style is very simple yet it shows a lot of details. The relation between drawings and words are very irregular. It seems that he put the word boxes anywhere he can find extra space. There are many unexpected factors, like how he will wake up and how the issue in his story will end, but it is always expected that he will wake up in the last panel.

I find George Herriman's comic, Krazy Kat, really hard to follow and understand. All the actions seem unexpected. However, at the end of the comic, he seems to be content, as if he realized his purpose throughout the whole crazy tale. The style is pretty sketchy and simple. The panels are very bare as opposed to McCay's. Whereas McCay's speech boxes are fit in any open spot, Herriman's seem to be planned out. They are always moving upwards and are near the top of the panel.

Understanding Comics!

I definitely feel like I understand the concept of comics better after reading Scott McCloud's book. What caught my attention the most in his book is the concept of amplifying through simplifying. A lot of times we think that the most details we add to something, the better it will be. However, when we simplify an image, it becomes clearer and we can relate to it better.

Another interesting topic in his book is his talk about icons. He says that us, humans, are pretty self-centered. We see images of a face (two dots and a line) everywhere. We see them in the front of cars and outlets. We can see a face in any shape that has a circle with a dot (an eye). It is a really interesting idea, because this gives us the power to make a character out of anything! We can easily create a character that people can relate to and has feelings!